allansy8 Posted October 23, 2013 at 08:52 AM Report Posted October 23, 2013 at 08:52 AM Hello, I am studying in Beijing, China for only one semester (September to December, 4 months only). My agent is Home Link, are you guys familiar with that? My rent contract is made for 1 year because they said that that is standard process. My house rentals are monthly due. I have paid for 1 month deposit (refundable but with deduction for breaking the contract by staying only 4 months instead of a year), 1 month advance (used for 1st month's rent) and then maintenance fee computed by (Rent Amount * 12 months * 10%) (refundable for the unused months). I have no issues in all that. When time comes that I have to leave Beijing and come back home, my questions are: What should I do with my deposit and other refundable fees? Should I wait for it while living in a hotel? The money that I will get back from them amounts to like a month's worth of rental or maybe 1.3 times the amount of rental. I ask the agent when will I get my refundable fees back when I terminate my contract, they said the range is 1 week to 1 month. Is this accurate? Because when I live in a 200RMB/night hotel, it will take just 15 days to get to the amount of money I will get from my agent, so if I waited longer than 15 days, I am now losing money. Right now, I want to get a dorm inside my school as that will be the most convenient thing to do but the list is so long I may lose hope. What about applying for homestay as what I have read in some topic here? I definitely cannot stay in my friends' dorms as cleaning staffs go there once or twice a month, and if they get caught, they are responsible. Can you advise me on what to do? Thank you very much! Quote
muyongshi Posted October 23, 2013 at 10:15 AM Report Posted October 23, 2013 at 10:15 AM In answer to #1 and #3 (I have no knowledge of #2) I would try to find someone with whom you can make a deal to "buy" it off of you. Someone that you trust and is from your home nation and would be willing to take the RMB and give you another currency. Then you don't have to wait around and you don't have to figure out what else to do.You may need to arrange a meet with this third party and your landlord to give permission for the deposit to given to someone else. Navigating that may be a tad complicated but should be doable. Quote
roddy Posted October 23, 2013 at 10:15 AM Report Posted October 23, 2013 at 10:15 AM This all sounds a bit odd - there's no reason they couldn't do a four month contract at a higher rent. Are they perhaps hiding from the owner of the flat that this is only going to be a short lease? It would be no surprise at all if they stall on returning the deposit, safe in the knowledge that a) you've technically broken the contract, so they're in a good position; and b) you can't wait forever. Is there anything in the contract about what happens if (when) you break it? I'm also confused - have you actually signed this contract? Then why are you still hoping for a dorm? Quote
allansy8 Posted October 23, 2013 at 10:46 AM Author Report Posted October 23, 2013 at 10:46 AM To muyongshi, actually the translator that came with me to help with the home agent proposed this, but I think this will be more of a hassle since we need to talk to the agent first to do this. And I am afraid if the new tenant will not pay on time, this will be on me because they have all my details when I first signed a contract to them. To Roddy, the agent said some landlords is OK with a short term contract but some of them does not. Some of them does not even want a monthly rental payment. Delaying the return of my deposit and other fees is also possible since they know my situation and can't wait forever. Unfortunately, the contract is all in Chinese and I cannot seem to find the part where when the contract is terminated by the renting party. I have signed the contract and been living here for 2 months but I want to get my deposit back before school finishes. Given what they said is true about returning of deposit (1 week to a month), that is why I want to transfer to a dorm inside the university as that is less trouble. Quote
muyongshi Posted October 23, 2013 at 11:08 AM Report Posted October 23, 2013 at 11:08 AM I've never had to wait for a deposit in China personally so you MIGHT convince all involved parties to meet at the house the day you move out and have everything looked over together (better chance of you bring h able to dispute any alleged damage) and get deposit back right away. Quote
allansy8 Posted October 23, 2013 at 11:24 AM Author Report Posted October 23, 2013 at 11:24 AM Thank you for this information. Quote
muyongshi Posted October 23, 2013 at 11:37 AM Report Posted October 23, 2013 at 11:37 AM If you want you could post a copy of your contract here and you could get some more input from people who like to be precise in their explanations of what's in there. May it may not help depending on how standard it is or how well written. Just an idea, not necessary at all. Quote
allansy8 Posted October 23, 2013 at 12:12 PM Author Report Posted October 23, 2013 at 12:12 PM I will get back on that tomorrow, I don't have a decent scanner here other than my phone. Quote
JustinJJ Posted October 23, 2013 at 12:35 PM Report Posted October 23, 2013 at 12:35 PM I ask the agent when will I get my refundable fees back when I terminate my contract, they said the range is 1 week to 1 month. Is this accurate? I am in exactly the same situation as you (i.e. agent is Home Link in Beijing and I am about to break a lease). I have been told that they can return excess rent I paid and if I or the agent finds someone to continue the lease before I leave, the deposit as well. The time-frame they said is 10 working days for the money to be returned to be, which must be paid into a bank account (annoying as I would have left China by then!). To Roddy, the agent said some landlords is OK with a short term contract but some of them does not. Some of them does not even want a monthly rental payment. Delaying the return of my deposit and other fees is also possible since they know my situation and can't wait forever. Unfortunately, the contract is all in Chinese and I cannot seem to find the part where when the contract is terminated by the renting party. This seems a bit unusual because Home Link have long-contracts (i.e. many years) with the owner of the house, they deck the place out in the Home Link Scheme (they all have similar colour scheme, etc), then the rent to whomever they want as a so-called 'second land-lord‘ so home link should be completely free to choose contract terms. Perhaps it is the Home Link company policy to only have year-long leases and the particular agent thought of this way to get around a policy? Quote
allansy8 Posted October 23, 2013 at 12:41 PM Author Report Posted October 23, 2013 at 12:41 PM You said that they need a bank account to deposit the refundable fees? What if you don't have one? What other options did they give you? BTW, thanks for this info. Quote
allansy8 Posted October 24, 2013 at 02:26 PM Author Report Posted October 24, 2013 at 02:26 PM Today, I went to 3 different photocopy place near my school and all said that 1 page of document scanning is 2 RMB. Is this accurate? This is crazy. No printing made, just scanning. Thanks! Quote
imron Posted October 24, 2013 at 10:42 PM Report Posted October 24, 2013 at 10:42 PM 2 RMB seems reasonable to me. Quote
gato Posted October 24, 2013 at 10:52 PM Report Posted October 24, 2013 at 10:52 PM You can always take a photo instead of scanning. It's usually good enough. Quote
Lu Posted October 25, 2013 at 09:39 AM Report Posted October 25, 2013 at 09:39 AM Depending on how reliable they are, you might be lucky to get that deposit back at all. But let's say they are reliable and open to finding a solution: - You might ask them if it would be okay to simply not pay the last month of rent, and let them keep your deposit instead. Of course, they would need to be able to trust you to not wreck the place in that last month. - You might check if you could access your bank account from your home country. Not ideal, as this would cost some money, and you would leave behind a Chinese bank account. - Alternatively, you could give a friend who stays in China access to your bank account, and have that friend give you back the money in some other way. (Anecdote: a Portuguese prospective subletter needed to pay his deposit to my Chinese friend. But he wasn't able to transfer money from his Portuguese bank account to her Chinese one. He ended up paying in my Dutch bank account (all EU), I paid my friend back from my Chinese bank account, and all was well. You could try something like that.) - As mentioned, you can ask them to give you back the deposit in cash on the day you move out. Good luck! Quote
allansy8 Posted October 29, 2013 at 01:36 PM Author Report Posted October 29, 2013 at 01:36 PM This is the contract images, sorry for the big size. Hoping someone can help regarding the deposit and unused rent. Many Thanks! http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id=ge2836981fbde85c9999402235d5a176a9786f0184 Quote
allansy8 Posted October 30, 2013 at 04:28 PM Author Report Posted October 30, 2013 at 04:28 PM Sorry for the large size of the file before. Here I made the images into a single PDF file for easier viewing. Please take a look at it. Before it is 18MB, now it is just 7MB. http://www.fileconvoy.com/dfl.php?id=gc7353593cf83c507999403232afa9d37bc8e25378 Thanks! Quote
roddy Posted January 7, 2014 at 08:57 AM Report Posted January 7, 2014 at 08:57 AM So what happened with this? Quote
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